Le Clarence de Haut-Brion 2024

Characteristics and tasting advice for Clarence de Haut-Brion 2024

Tasting

Color
The color displays a deep, sustained garnet red hue with fine intensity, heralding richness and density.

Nose
The first nose delights with its purity and airy character. The strong presence of Cabernet Franc brings a fresh, slender, and floral touch, which lends a refined distinction to the whole.

Palate
The attack is serious and ample, unfolding into a generous and powerful substance. The wine reveals impressive breadth on the palate, supported by a solid and promising structure. Still tense, like a spring ready to unwind, it calls for careful barrel ageing to reveal its full finesse. Clarence presents an age-worthy wine here, powerful today, but destined for a beautiful revelation over time.

A balanced and precise second Red wine from Pessac-Léognan

The property

The oldest Grand Cru of Bordeaux, Château Haut-Brion stands out for its unique heritage built over more than five centuries of history. Founded in 1533 by Jean de Pontac on the lands of the Graves, it quickly won the favor of Europe’s great courts. As early as 1663, the English parliamentarian Samuel Pepys inadvertently contributed to its fame by noting in his journal: “And there I drank a sort of French wine called Ho-Bryan, of a taste quite singular which I had never yet encountered…” A myth was born.
First Grand Cru Classified outside the Médoc in 1855, and Classified Cru under the official Graves classification of 1959, Château Haut-Brion still asserts itself today as an icon of consistency and excellence worldwide.

The vineyard

Located in the heart of the commune of Pessac, the vineyard benefits from a remarkable terroir of varied-hued gravel soils. This unique ground gives rise to Pessac-Léognan wines of great finesse, always marked by their elegance, precision, and admirable consistency from one vintage to the next. The Clarence de Haut-Brion is the estate’s second wine.

The vintage

The year 2024 began with a mild and wet winter, leading to an early bud break that was then slowed by heavy rainfall. The pressure of fungal diseases required heightened vigilance from spring. Flowering was successful for the whites but more uneven for the reds. July brought an improvement in conditions, followed by meticulous work in the green and precise leaf thinning to preserve the sanitary and aromatic quality of the grapes. After a slow growth phase, Haut-Brion’s precocious terroir enabled rapid and healthy grape maturation. The white harvests, marked by good balance and fine aromas, took place under ideal conditions. The Sauvignons proved particularly expressive. Before the red harvest, a dry wind favored berry concentration while preserving their integrity. Thanks to rigorous sorting, only the best fruit was retained, heralding a promising vintage, rich in contrast and expression.

Winemaking and ageing

Ageing in barrels (31% of which are new).

Blend

Merlot (45.7%), Cabernet Sauvignon (32.3%) and Cabernet Franc (22%).